NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover has crossed a dune that stands across a gateway to a southwestward route favored by the rover team for driving to future science destinations.

After reaching the west side of the 3-foot-tall (1-meter-tall) dune today, the rover looked back at its tracks down the western slope. A raw image of the rover's tracks over the dune is at: 1.usa.gov/Mw9HmZ .

The dune sits between low scarps at a site called "Dingo Gap" inside Mars' Gale Crater. Now that Curiosity has passed through the gap, engineers and scientists plan to direct the mobile laboratory toward a location of interest where different rock types intersect. That is a candidate site for next use of the rover's drill. Beyond that, the drive will continue toward the mission's long-term science destination on lower slopes of Mount Sharp, in the middle of the crater.